page_title: Edgar Martínez
section_title: Legacy
hierarchical_section_title: Edgar Martínez / Professional career / Legacy
caption_attribution_description: English: Former MLB player Edgar Martínez is presented with his plaque during the induction ceremony to the National Baseball Hall of Fame on July 21, 2019
context_page_description: Edgar Martínez, nicknamed "Gar" and "Papi", is a Puerto Rican former professional baseball player and coach. He played in Major League Baseball as a designated hitter and third baseman for the Seattle Mariners from 1987 through 2004. He served as the Mariners' hitting coach from 2015 through 2018.
  Martínez grew up in Dorado, Puerto Rico. Not highly regarded as a prospect, he signed with the Mariners as a free agent in 1982, and was given a small signing bonus. He made his major league debut in 1987, but did not establish himself as a full-time player until 1990, at age 27. In the 1995 American League Division Series, he hit "The Double", which won the series and increased public support for Mariners baseball as they attempted to fund a new stadium. He continued to play until 2004, when injuries forced him to retire.
  Martínez was a seven-time MLB All-Star, five-time Silver Slugger, and two-time batting champion. He is one of 18 MLB players to record a batting average of .300, an on-base percentage of .400, and a slugging percentage of .500 in 5,000 or more plate appearances. The Mariners retired his uniform number and inducted him into the Seattle Mariners Hall of Fame.
context_section_description: Hall of Fame pitcher Mariano Rivera, when asked whether there was anyone he was afraid to face, said that he was never afraid, but "I will put it like this: The only guy that I didn't want to face, when a tough situation comes, was Edgar Martínez. The reason is because I couldn't get him out. (laughs) I couldn't get him out.  It didn't matter how I threw the ball. I couldn't get him out. Oh, my god, he had more than my number. He had my breakfast, lunch and dinner. He got everything from me." Versus Rivera, Martínez was able to log a .579 batting average, with 11 hits during 19 at bats. Hall of Fame pitcher Pedro Martínez (no relation) also named Edgar Martínez as one of the toughest hitters he had to pitch against in his career because, Pedro said, he was very disciplined at the plate and "would foul off pitches that would wipe out anybody else."
  Martínez was inducted into the Hispanic Heritage Baseball Museum Hall of Fame on September 9, 2003, in a pregame on field ceremony at Safeco Field. In October 2004, following his retirement, a section of South Atlantic Street (State Route 519) in Seattle adjacent to Safeco Field was renamed Edgar Martínez Drive South. At his retirement ceremony, a portrait "featuring his high stepping batting style" painted by artist Michele Rushworth was presented to him by the Mariners. In 2004, MLB renamed the Outstanding Designated Hitter Award in Martínez's honor. In 2005, fans voted Martínez as the third baseman on the Latino Legends Team.
  Since his retirement, the Mariners did not issue Martinez' uniform number 11 to any other player. Under Mariners' team policy, he was not eligible to have his uniform number formally retired until 2010, when he became eligible for the National Baseball Hall of Fame for the first time. The Mariners inducted Martínez into the Seattle Mariners Hall of Fame on June 2, 2007, and retired Martinez's #11 jersey on August 12, 2017.
  First eligible to be elected into the Hall of Fame in the 2010 Baseball Hall of Fame balloting, and with 75% of the vote required for induction, Martínez received 36.2% of the vote. While some sports writers felt that his batting numbers do not overcome the one-dimensional aspect of his career as a DH, others have compared this to the specialty of closers whose contribution to their teams victories resides on working one inning to preserve an advantage and the fact that these late inning relievers are not involved in other facets of the game such as hitting and base running. By the 2018 Baseball Hall of Fame balloting, his ninth year on the ballot, Martínez's vote total increased to 70.4%. The 2019 ballot, his last chance for election by the Baseball Writers' Association of America, elected him to the Hall of Fame, appearing on 85.4% of the ballots cast. He became the second player to enter the Hall of Fame as a Mariner, after Ken Griffey Jr., and the sixth player to be elected in his final year of eligibility, after Red Ruffing, Joe Medwick, Ralph Kiner, Jim Rice, and Tim Raines. Incidentally, he entered the Hall with the aforementioned Rivera, who was elected in his 1st year of eligibility, along with the late Roy Halladay (1st ballot, posthumous).
caption: Martínez receiving his plaque during his induction ceremony into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2019
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